Elves
While the Dwarves live beneath their great citadel and halfling burgs latch haphazardly onto human settlements, Elves live freely within the wilderness of the Kingdom of White. Due in part to their long lifespan, elves tend to develop strong connections to the land where they live, viewing themselves as part of nature. They tend to strive towards living sustainable, harmonious lives with the land rather than exploiting it and moving on or working against it to build up settlements like most shorter lived peoples. Elves as a people are split into several tribes, known as families, each with their own distinct traditions and, occasionally, unique physiological features. Collectively, the tribes form a federation known as the Evergreen League. The leaders of each tribe form the Deciduous, a political entity that meets periodically or in times of crisis to collectively set rules which will govern each of them. It was the Deciduous that decided to lay down arms and negotiate terms with the burgeoning human Kingdom of White millennia ago, and as per those terms the Evergreen League became a vassal to the Kingdom, as the Black Citadel had before it. Elven Families There are eight elven families in the Kingdom of White: The Bosque, The Rio, The Lychini, The Angari, The Criador, The Anima, The Caligo and The Silva. The Bosque (Wood Elves) The Bosque elves are the most widespread and populous of the elven families. Their territory extends essentially throughout all the woodlands bordering the Kingdom proper. It is these woodlands that the Bosque sought to maintain and protect when fighting against the encroaching human Kingdom millennia ago, and they maintain some autonomy over these lands. The Bosque limit woodcutting practices to prevent deforestation, while recognizing the younger races' need for lumber and the need of a forest to be periodically culled. Most of the druids in the kingdom come from this family of elves. Bosque are also drawn towards being Rangers and Hunters as well. Bosque elves replace the Elven Magic racial ability with Woodcraft: Bosque Elves know the deep secrets of the wild like no others, especially secrets of the forests. Elves with this racial trait gain a +1 racial bonus on Knowledge (nature) and Survival checks. In forest terrain, these bonuses improve to +2. Bosque elf casters may always select the Nature Sphere and talents from that sphere regardless of restrictions placed upon them by their class' casting tradition. They may only gain the Plantlife geomancy package if accessing the sphere this way. The Rio (Water Elves) The Rio are a disparate people connected by water. They make their homes along the coast and beside rivers, which they travel along to communicate and trade. The Rio are less in tune with the forests than their elven brethren and their way of life is much closer to the younger lived races when it comes to creating settlements, trading goods, and using currency. They are primarily merchants, traveling from town to town sharing stories and goods, but many are the Rio who set sail down the river and drift off to some new life on or off the water. Of all the elves, Rio are most likely to find their way into the White Army, as the Blue Guard highly values their natural swimming ability and sense of aquatic navigation. The Rio replace elven magic and weapon familiarity with Spirit of the Waters: They gain a +4 racial bonus on Swim checks, can always take 10 while swimming, and may choose Aquan as a bonus language. They are proficient with longspear, trident, and net. Rio elf casters may always select the Nature Sphere and talents from that sphere regardless of restrictions placed upon them by their class' casting tradition. They may only gain the Water geomancy package if accessing the sphere this way. The Lychini (Light Elves) Lychini elves replace Elven immunities and Elven magic with Lightbringer and weapon familiarity with Arcane Focus: Lightbringer: Lychini are immune to light-based blindness and dazzle effects, and are treated as one level higher when determining the effects of any light-based spell or effect they cast (including spell-like and supernatural abilities). Lychini with Intelligence scores of 10 or higher may use light at will as a spell-like ability. Arcane Focus: Lychini families have such long traditions of producing wizards (and other arcane spellcasters) that they raise their children with the assumption each is destined to be a powerful magic-user, with little need for mundane concerns such as skill with weapons. Elves with this racial trait gain a +2 racial bonus on concentration checks made to cast arcane spells defensively. Lychini casters may always select the Light sphere and talents from that sphere regardless of restrictions placed upon them by their class' casting tradition. The Angari (Messenger Elves) Angari elves replace keen senses, weapon familiarity, elven magic ''and elven immunities'' with the following abilities: Desert Runner: Angari are nomads, and their bodies are adjusted to extended periods of travel and able to adjust to all but the harshest conditions with little difficulty. Elves with this racial trait receive a +4 racial bonus on Constitution checks and Fortitude saves to avoid fatigue, exhaustion, or ill effects from running, forced marches, starvation, thirst, or hot or cold environments. Fleet-Footed: While all elves are naturally lithe and agile, Angari are also naturally speedy and have a strong desire to rush into situations rather than worrying about looking ahead. They receive Run as a bonus feat and a +2 racial bonus on initiative checks. Perfect: The eerie beauty of the Angari cannot be denied. They receive a +1 racial bonus on Bluff and Diplomacy checks against humanoids and a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against transmutation spells and spell-like effects. The Criador (Maker Elves) Criador elves replace keen senses, weapon familiarity, elven magic ''and elven immunities'' with the following abilities: Crossbow Training: The Criador are more mechanically inclined than their elven brethren, as well as most non elven races. A Criador elf can reload a light crossbow as a free action and a heavy crossbow as a move action, provided that they are proficient with the weapon. If they select the Rapid Reload feat for a heavy crossbow, they can reload the weapon as a free action. Practice Makes Perfect: Criador gain a +2 racial bonus for all Craft checks and to their caster level for the create usage of the Creation sphere as long as this bonus doesn’t raise their caster level above their current Hit Dice. Cold-Honed: The elf can move through natural snow and ice at their normal speed and gain a +4 racial bonus on Fortitude saves to avoid nonlethal damage from cold environments. Criador may select the Creation sphere and talents within it regardless of the restrictions posed by their class' casting tradition. The Anima (Spirit Elves) Anima elves replace keen senses, weapon familiarity, elven magic ''and elven immunities'' with the following abilities: Memories Beyond Death: Some elves are born with sensitive souls that absorb insight from others and from the spirits of the deceased. These elves gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against fear effects. They also choose two Knowledge skills and always treat those skills as class skills. If they take a class that grants either or both of those skills as class skills, they gain a +1 racial bonus on the overlapping skill or skills. Shadowhunter: Characters with this trait deal 50% weapon damage to incorporeal creatures when using non-magical weapons (including natural and unarmed attacks), as if using magic weapons. They also gain a +2 bonus on saving throws to remove negative levels, and recover physical ability damage from attacks by undead creatures at a rate of 2 points per ability score per day (rather than the normal 1 point per ability score per day). Blended View: Characters with this trait keep their low-light vision but also gain darkvision to a distance of 60 feet. The Caligo (City Elves) Caligo elves replace keen senses, weapon familiarity, elven magic ''and elven immunities'' with the following abilities: Urbanite: Living in the city for more than a century, Caligo grow to know the ebb and flow of social situations just as their forest-dwelling cousins know the rules of the wild. Caligo gain a +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy checks made to gather information and Sense Motive checks made to get a hunch about a social situation. Dimdweller: Whenever Caligo benefit from concealment or full concealment due to darkness or dim light, they gain a +2 racial bonus on Intimidate, Perception, and Stealth checks. Silent Hunter: Caligo elves are renowned for their subtlety and skill. They reduce the penalty for using Stealth while moving by 5 and can make Stealth checks while running at a –20 penalty (this number includes the penalty reduction from this racial trait). Slender: Caligo often appear unnaturally thin by other races’ standards. They gain a +2 racial bonus on Escape Artist checks, on combat maneuver checks to escape a grapple, and to CMD against grapples. Silva Silva characters replace their usual languages and elven magic with the following abilities: Elven Arrogance: Silva elves are so convinced of elven superiority that they have difficulty seeing the point in communicating with “lesser” races. Their racial bonus on saving throws against enchantments increases by 1 (to +3) against such effects from non-elf humanoids, but they begin play speaking only Elven, and if they have high Intelligence scores, they can select bonus languages from only 1 ancient language, Celestial, Draconic, and Sylvan. Eternal Grudge: Silva elves grow up in secluded, isolationist communities where generations-old slights and quarrels linger as eternal blood feuds. Elves with this racial trait receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls against humanoids of the dwarf and human subtypes because of special training against these hated foes.